Pagelets concept was born from
the idea making ``Internet presence'' possible and useful across the
digital divide, worldwide. While gradually refined and deepened over
many moons, the basic aims and ideas have remained remarkably stable:
full user control over creation and content of pagelets, with easy
searchability based on automatically indexed structural and textual
information.

In a technical sense, a pagelet is like
a database record with a communication wrapper over it. Pagelets capture
the purpose of the information in a context and also provides for
people networking over it. The product is "Pantoto
Communities".

The Vision of Pagelets, Inc

The founders of
Pagelets share the vision of providing easy and meaningful access
of information systems to all. Prof. Lambert Meertens has been involved
with human-computer issues for a great many years and has been perplexed
with the level of difficulty related to using computers. One of the
long-term goals in his academic life is to improve the ease of use
and access to information systems. Dr. T. B. Dinesh is motivated by
offering resources that assist people to work where they live and
reduce the impacts felt in communities when educated individuals are
forced to leave their homes in order to work in their area of specialization.
Dr. Susan Uskudarli is motivated by helping communities help themselves.
Her first hand experience during the 1999 earthquake in Turkey and
subsequent volunteering work has had a very strong impact on her belief
in the power of information for the people who are determined to help.
The role of the Internet after natural disasters has been very important,
yet coordination and especially tracking activities and status remain
difficult issues.

All the founders share the objective
of contributing to solutions that have sustainable impact. For example,
a community reacting to a natural disaster needs tools and efforts
that are long-term, such as the education of orphaned or displaced
children.